Friday, January 5th, 2007

This Loneliness

I got a copy of El Perro Del Mar’sself-titled album on the same day as the Frida Hyvonen record I talked about on Wednesday, and while I listened to them both, I admit I got a little confused as to which one I was listening to at the time. Which unconventional Swedish singer-songwriter is this again?

Well as it happens, just a couple days after it was announced that Hyvonen was coming to town on March 8, it comes out that El Perro Del Mar will also be in town at the same venue – The Mod Club – just three days earlier, on March 5 (via For The Records). It seems some paths are destined to run closely parallel, at least from my point of view. Tickets for her show are $15 and are on sale now.

El Perro Del Mar is the project of Sarah Assbring and is, quite possibly, the saddest record I’ve heard in ages. The inspiration and production hearkens back to an era before retro, all the way back to timeless (aka the 50s), but Assbring’s take on it is less going down the five and dime for a soda and more standing desolate in the rain, poodle skirt soaked and shapeless. On the more upbeat numbers like “God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)”, there’s not a hint of a smile in Assbring’s delivery and on the sadder songs, well damn. Her voice is strong and her vibrato sounds like it’s on the edge of tears, but thankfully the end result isn’t maudlin or overwrought – it feels quite genuine and the duality of the inherently sunny music with Assbring’s mournfulness gives El Perro Del Mar a strange, emotionally rich and resonant friction. It will be interesting to see how it translates in a live environment.

Washington Square News talks to El Perro Del Mar about what it is to be Swedish and the inspiration for her stage name, which means “dog of the sea” in Spanish.

Check it – new Charlotte Hatherley video, via Stereogum. She talks a bit about the inspiration behind the vid here. Her new album The Deep Blue is out in March and the EP for the single in question, “Behave”, is available on eMusic.